DABBING
Dabbing refers to using highly concentrated forms of marijuana, like hash oil, made by extracting THC from cannabis. The concentrated THC forms a dark brown or yellow, sticky, gummy substance.1
Dabbing involves heating the THC concentrate and inhaling it, either with an e-cigarette, vaporizer or special apparatus, sometimes called a dab rig or an oil rig.
THE EFFECTS OF DABBING
Dabbing intensifies the effects of smoking marijuana. THC levels in marijuana typically range from 15–30 percent but, when dabbing, can reach as high as 99 percent.2
Dabbing can cause rapid heartbeat, blackouts, skin crawling sensations, loss of consciousness and psychotic symptoms like paranoia and hallucinations.3 Due to its high potency, dabbing can lead to accidents and falls, as well as uncontrollable vomiting, known as Cannabinoid Hyperemesis* Syndrome (CHS). Dabbing can even lead to death.4
As legalization of marijuana expanded across the US, cannabis-related emergency visits of young people increased.5
Dabbing exposes users to harmful chemicals and poisonous solvents employed in extracting marijuana concentrates.6
* hyperemesis: excessive or severe vomiting (comes from the Greek words hyper, meaning “excessive,” and emesis, meaning “vomiting”)
I ended up in the mental hospital because it had been 10 days and I had gotten 10 to 15 hours of sleep total.”
MOOKING
Smoking tobacco and marijuana together in a pipe is known as mooking. The combined chemicals of tobacco and marijuana impact the nervous system and affect both mind and body. Some of these effects cannot be reversed.7
Smoking cigarettes can lead to severe lung disease requiring oxygen 24 hours a day. When this occurs, a person is no longer able to carry out normal activity due to severe shortness of breath.8
Mixing marijuana and tobacco together increases exposure to harmful chemicals, causing greater risks to the lungs and cardiovascular system.9
REFERENCES
- Drug Facts, Marijuana Concentrates, National Institute on Drug Abuse
- Mapping Cannabis Potency in Medical and Recreational Programs in the United States, March 26, 2020, PLOS One, National Library of Medicine
- What Are Dabs Drugs? We Level Up Texas
- Cannabinoid Hyperemesis Syndrome: Public Health Implications and a Novel Model Treatment Guideline, National Institutes of Health
- Cannabis Use among US Adolescents in the Era of Marijuana Legalization, National Institutes of Health, National Library of Medicine
- Toxicant Formation in Dabbing: The Terpene Story, ACS Omega, 2017
- Moke: Mixing Marijuana & Tobacco Unhealthy for Teens, January 25, 2018, Newport Academy
- Diseases and Death, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Cannabis and the Lung, November 9, 2014, New Zealand Centre for Political Research
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